Tag Archives: Game Information

Gankers

A gamer in the Sons of Sword Universe is playing through a great game of Champions of Battle.  Not willing to pay the outrageous price for an upgrade, she has gathered the ore to make the next piece of armor herself.  Now it’s time to return to the forge.  She’s about to get back into her ship when suddenly a lightning bolt comes out of nowhere killing her instantly.

By the time her body is retrieved, she has lost the ore and her shirt, literally.  All the stat increasing Hanja it contained now makes her mysterious assailant stronger or richer.  So, she has another difficult task to complete before she can continue her adventure.

Another gamer has just finished the final leg of an extensive quest chain with a secretive and hard to impress faction.  The prize for months of frustrating quests and searches is a rare treasure that only this faction can give.  He has burned many bridges with former allies in order to get this prize, steeling or ruining things they hold dear.

All of the trouble is well worth it.  This prize is as useful as it is rare.  It is not however all powerful.  This fact is easily proven.  Not five minutes after getting it, he is swarmed by an overwhelming horde of attackers.  They rip the prize from his Champion’s cold dead hands and roll dice to see who keeps it.  By the time his body is retrieved the attackers are nowhere to be found.  To get a similar prize, he has to start the whole process again with no access to his former allies.

These attacks are just a small portion of what is capable of those who have been named “gankers” in the game Champions of Battle.  A common occurrence in free roam games, they are a problem and a peril that is difficult to sort out.  They have been called bandits, cheaters, cowards, thieves, raiders, and many other colorful phrases.  To the enemies of the attacked, they could be called fortunate.  They have been hunted, hired, and are usually not trusted.  They are the reason that most low level players stay in cities with high level guards.

Who knows why they do what they do?  Perhaps in a gaming world a player can act out their craziest dreams without being punished.  The player can become an outlaw then sleep soundly at home.  Perhaps the player’s idea of fun is making sure that others don’t have fun.  Maybe the player is powerless in the real world and lash out in the world of fiction.  For any of these reasons, the result is the same.  Whenever a Champion steps out of the protected cities, they must be wary.

It is not an easy existence.  Gankers too live in fear in the Champions of Battle world.  They too must be careful.  With increasing reports of dishonorable activities, they have to be careful where they go.  They have few safe places to rest.  There is usually a bounty for their capture.  This bounty increases with every dishonorable thing they do.  This, “fun,” is encouraged to become less fun for the players.

With an increasing bounty, gankers have to take greater strides to stay hidden while carrying out their daily lives.  They have to look for more and more secure hideouts.  They have to search for special cities equally full of lawlessness to be relatively safe from bounty hunters.

When gankers are caught, painful strength reducing torture in a prison cell may await.  All of their acquired equipment and a great amount of their funds could be taken.  To be completely free from their captors, they must hope for rescue from their allies or the enemies of their captors.  Such help may or may not come depending on how securely the prison is hidden away.  Anyone that attempts to free a ganker and fails is placed in a similar condition.

Gankers are difficult to deal with because they have uses in Champions of Battle.  The Crisho race is a very small.  The average height is around five centimeters.  Even in a video game world, ill-equipped explorers should be wary.  Low level players are not supposed to wander far.  They are encouraged to play carefully and strategically or fail a task they may not be trusted with again.  Gankers create the necessary fear for other players to stay relatively safe until they are ready to venture out with all the proper equipment and tactics.

Gankers are used politically in game as well.  There are always warring and conniving factions.  Catching or hiring a known outlaw creates a winning situation.  They are used as free agents to attack or spy on foe or ally without revealing the true source of aggression.

The temptation to break, steal, or vandalize stuff is sometimes too powerful to resist, especially in video games.  However, Champions of Battle is a game where things are continually moving.  A Champion is still active even when their player is not playing.  It is possible for a Champion to commit a crime, only to be caught while its player is off-line.  Even if a player does a few dishonorable actions they must be careful.

The Close Quarters Set

The Close Quarters Talent set is designed for champions that don’t mind being up close in hand to hand combat.  This set is particular for the adventurer’s choice of weapon and other talent sets.

Champions that use this set value outcome regardless form.  They are more concerned with how an item can be used than how it should be used.  If they are in a desperate situation, they can pick up rocks, bricks, broken table legs, or whatever else is lying around and use it with relative effectiveness in combat.  The selected item would be much more effective if it resembles a weapon the champion is familiar with.

Keep in mind, the item has to be around.  It would be extremely difficult to grab a rock if the champion is on a tree or in a well kept house.  Also the items durability is taken into account.  Since it is not a forged weapon item could break over time.

The special moves of a champion using this set is highly affected by both the weapon choice and the other two talent sets chosen by the player.  A caster can gain shorter channeling time and extend punches.  An archer can use arrows as single use daggers.  Gunners can use a gun more effectively as a melee weapon and are more effective with shot guns.  Duelists can aim for pressure points to stun opponents or make it painful for them to move.

These champions can master weapons that other Talent Sets don’t usually teach.  Even unarmed techniques are utilized.  Chain weapons, flail weapons, reverse gripped daggers, and other types of weapons are taught in this Talent set.  This can take most champions by surprise as weapon defense is also a stat that must be leveled.

There is an honorable and dishonorable side to this set.  As the names suggest, one is much less concerned about appearance than the other.  They have very different styles of training but both sides can be mastered by a champion who has spent enough time training.

 

Champions that use this set:

Orien Quan, AD7

The Archer Talent Set

The Archer Talent Set is specifically for champions that wish to focus on silent, distanced, physical damage.  To use skills from this set, the champion must be equipped with a bow type weapon and arrows/bolts.  While any champion can equip a bow and arrow and become quite skilled with the weapon, the Archer Talent Set enables specialized shots, easier aiming, faster loading, and faster weapon skill generation.

The Archer Talent Set amplifies the good things about using bow and arrow type weapons as ranged weapons.  Almost every shot has multiple arcs to a target; one direct shot and varied arcing paths.  A champion can switch between the different arcs to find one that does not hit an ally while dishing out continuous damage to a target.

Using this set, the champion does not have to worry about immediate discovery or the attention implied by the discovery.  This can be used in parties to allow the melee characters to keep the opponents attention while the Archer hits the more vulnerable parts to the target from a distance.  It could also be used with the Stealth Talent Set to really annoy a target.

Double shot allows for two arrows to be fired at the same time.  The arrows would hit two different targets.  Higher levels of this move allows for three arrows to be shot and multiple arrows to hit the same target.

With Arc shot, a champion would have multiple arrows in hand.  The champion would then draw the bow at a high arc and shoot.  The champion would draw again with the second arrow and shoot at a lower ach.  Both arrows hit the target at the same time.  If this move is placed at on a higher slot, the champion can shoot a third arrow as well.

Split Arrow allows for an arrow to hit exactly where another arrow has already landed.  This could weaken a target’s armor or make a wound even worse.

The move list only increases when using this talent set along with certain other talent sets.  The Caster Talents Set allows for arrows of arcane energy to be shot from the bow instead of physical arrows.  The Kinetic/Potential Talent Set allows for curving shots and even faster loading.  The Close Quarters Talent Set allows for the effective use of arrows as single use daggers.

The Archer Talent Set is versatile but of course is not for everyone.  A player that likes to rip face on the front lines would not choose this talent set.  It is a must have talent set for those that prefer to fight from the back lines.

Known Archer Talent Set Users:

Neely Yin